It is so important to me that my big kids don't feel left out when new babies come along. I always try and plan some special things for them to do ahead of time, knowing that my time will be consumed with new baby fun-ness.
I chose to use busy bags as a way to keep them learning and occupied as well as having something new and special they have never seen before.
In the past I have used plastic bags and I found that they ended up not looking so great after a couple uses. I also struggled with an organized way to store them. This time, I found pencil boxes for 57 cents and bought them during Tennessee's Tax Free holiday. I like that I can store them on a shelf, label them easier and that they will hopefully be more durable.
I was also able to use one color for older kid games and one for younger, so that my big kids would know which ones were appropriate to share with the babies and which were "table activities" that contained choking hazards or were just not optimal for toddlers. I encourage you to create bags that are appropriate for your children, their skill set and developmental level. Pink boxes are for bigger kids at our house, so I will share them first. Though I say they are for bigger kids, these are activities my four year old is comfortable doing on his own.
This is a color matching box. I bought magnetic strips and hot glued them to popsicle sticks. I then purchased a box of colored paper clips and labeled each stick with a color. He puts all the red clips on one stick, blue on one, etc. He is very confident in colors, but this box was mainly created for him to read the color names.
This could easily be just a fun box for your bigger kids, but I wanted it to be educational as well, so I purchased plain pony beads so that he can make whatever he likes, but I also purchased alphabet letter beads, so that he can form words. You could also use this box as a color game- place all the read beads on the red pipe cleaner, etc.
This is a motor skill box as well as word forming. He loves this box because it is something he normally wouldn't get to play with. He can simply screw the nuts onto the bolts for one activity, but I also took a permanent marker and wrote letters on the side of each nut, so he could form words on the bolts as well.
This box is a mix of learning about Jesus and getting a better grip on the days of the week. You could really break it into two boxes if you think it's too much for one. I labeled seven cards with ____ day. I then made prefix cards and put the number order on the back, so if they needed help they could go by the number. I also incorporated the creation story, by labeling what God made on each day. I also added toys we had laying around the house or created pieces from felt to the box, so that they could read what was created that day and then place the items with the correct card.
Black boxes are for everyone, but big kids know that they are allowed to get these down for smaller kids as well.
I bought extra large buttons, so they wouldn't be as much of a choking risk at our house, but if you don't have that concern, you could use any size buttons. I like the motor skill aspect of this box and I just cut pipe cleaners in half and let them string them along. I also thought this box could work for color, shape or size sorting depending on the buttons you choose for your box.
We are working diligently on recognizing uppercase and lowercase letters, so this box was created to go along with that. (Oh, and my kid is obsessed with fishing.) I took a pencil and hot glued on some fishing string to make a pole. (I did wrap a little piece of felt around the top because the edges were a little sharp). I glued magnets along the bottom of the string. I then took felt and made uppercase squares and lowercase squares. I glued magnets onto the back of the uppercase squares, so that he could "catch" those with the pole. The lowercase squares are then laid to the side and when he catches an uppercase letter he has to match it to the lowercase.
This is a simple color sorting box that my almost two year old loves. You could die your own pasta, but I just used the tri-color rotini and some black beans. I put the small disposable bathroom cups in the box and they just sort them into colors. You could use any dried bean or noodle you have around the house for this.
We had a pool noodle that got destructed and this box came from just wanting to do something with it! I had some clothesline laying around as well so I just took sharp scissors and cut the noodle into chunks and added the clothesline. Even the smallest of my little kids love stringing the noodles onto the line with this box.
One of my favorite homeschool resources is 1+1+1=1. If you haven't checked her out you need to. Like, right now. I used her
Batman Preschool Pack for this box. I printed and laminated the number cards and then numbered clothespins so that they could read the number on the pin and match it to the card. Some of the cards aren't numbered, so those they have to count and then find the correct number.
We are kind of obsessed with this box. My kiddos could make felt pizzas all day! I got this idea from a friend and you can do this any way you like, I cut brown circles for the crust and then smaller circles for the cheese. I then cut out pepper rings, pepperonis, carrot sticks, meat triangles and green pepper slices from felt. They love making their own creations!
I used paint color samples for this box. I just picked general colors and cut the cards in two pieces. I wrote the color name on these as well to help with reading. I hot glued colors onto clothespins so they could clip the correct pin onto the corresponding color card.
This box is full of "building blocks." My little kids love this box! I bought several different colors and kinds of cleaning sponges and cut some into half and some into quarters. I also bought a pack of sponge hair rollers and removed the plastic part. I also threw in a few pieces of the pool noodle. They love to build with these "blocks!"
I hope this gives you some ideas for your own busy bags. These 12 boxes cost me around $20 and are well worth the cost and effort.
